SUMMARY: News Corp gave away a DVD and collector’s case with a print newspaper, offering readers an opportunity to buy a different DVD each day for A$2.50. The offer brought in revenue and 100,000 readers.

News Corp brings in A$1 million profit from DVD paired with print edition

Damian Eales, group marketing director of News Corp, believes print sales promotion will never go out of fashion.

Although the print world is declining as the digital world is growing, Eales believes in growing digitial faster and slowing print decline.

News Corp re-evaluated the value customers put in print and found that content is the biggest value a person looks for in a newspaper.

“Newspapers still play a vital role for value seekers,” Eales said.

Of course readers want news media content first and foremost, but they also read to find ways to save money, including taking part in gift-with-purchase and purchase-with-purchase promotions.

News Corp built an integrated campaign that added both customer value and shareholder value. The company created a promotion that gave a DVD and collector’s case to the readers who purchased the newspaper. The reader could purchase a different DVD each day for A$2.50.

“We had to do it differently,” Eales said.

The company promoted the DVD using a variety of media, including print ads and editorial integration, as well as external media, such as television and out-of-home.

“I knew that with our buying power and our promotional power, we could re-engineer purchase-with-purchase promotions to make them both popular and profitable,” Eales said.

In 14 days, News Corp sold 3.2 million DVDs and 600,000 copies of its newspaper. The company increased its readers by more than 100,000 people and profited close to A$1 million.

The campaign was part of a broader community effort, which included articles about getting kids to leave their tablets and smartphones and rediscovering nature.